Extended Oxalic Acid (OAE) strips (AluenCAP)
Mary raises an important issue.
Using oxalic acid strips only once per year is ridiculous, but (in defence of the supplier) changing the label is an expensive option. Whatever it is essential to monitor regularly and treat whenever mite numbers exceed the notional 6 mites per 1/2 cup (roughly 300) nurse bees (2%) – without the queen of course. Rotating treatments, for example with formic acid (FormicPro) or thymol (Apiguard) is sensible and recommended. The alternatives – the synthetics – have come a croppa with the second -- just reported – Australian incursion of Varroa that are tolerant to amitraz (Apivar, Apitraz), flumethrin (Bavarol) and tau-fluvalinate (Apistan) so soon won't be of much use.
Hey get to monotoring pretty regularly or you will lose your bees and treat promptly. My bees were mite free up until early March. They have been mite bombed with collapsing hives locally and all needed and received instant treatment.
There are many issues (a) getting the natural products to work – e.g. OAE strips don't seem to halm bees but probably won't work in winter where nurse bees are not active and may not make contact with the strips and (b) all registered formlations are sky high in price.
Come along to the apiary days to see how the club is demonstrating affordable mite control (e.g. drone brood mite trapping) and use of OAE strips. Here is a chartt of when to treat with what (I'd give amitraz a miss) produced by Randy Oliver of Scientific Beekeeping fame. I've added 7 months to the timeline to match his Californian foothills climate with our slightly warmer Southern Highlands climate.
I won't be posting excepy rarely – my blogs are time consuming enough. But club meetings and the apiary are the best way to share ideas and practices that will keep the mites at bay and let you get on with the fun bit of keeping bees.
Alan
The idea of mite bombs is a highly contested one. Love your work, but I'm not sure I would agree with your reading. I'm seeing the same explosion in numbers you're seeing as I travel round town dealing with clients hives and removals, but I'm not seeing the collapsing hives that would be supplying the alleged mite bombs. My feeling/guess is that being a novel incursion our bees are just so unprepared that the mite is able to explode in numbers with in most cases no reaction from the bees. The Queensland devastation seems to be a horrendous forewarning of what we may expect, probably next Spring. Already experienced beekeeping enterprises announcing their shutdown after near total losses, despite following the appropriate treatment guidance.